I am reading this amazing book “Embracing Change” by Tony Buzan who is renowned for his Mind Mapping, speed-reading and memory techniques and is also the author of the bestselling books “Use Your Head” and “The Mind Map Book“.  In this book “Embracing Change“, Tony Buzan emphasizes how change is part and parcel of every fraction of second in our life and quotes the paradox,

“You can only remain constant by changing.
You can only stay where you are by moving.”

At first thought it might sound that the statement means something impossible but what if you think about it you will understand that you can be where you are only by changing either it is happening automatically or it is happening around you and you will be left behind if you are not with it. The day to day changes physiologically as well socially does not affect us much but there are few changes we tend to resist.  For example, you are forcefully put into a project that you don’t want to be in, job transfer, quitting a job and joining a new one, relationship issues and so on.  It is like how the earth pulls everything to it using the gravitational force, however catastrophically you are thrown out you get slowly pulled into a zone where you feel comfortable and don’t want to move away from it.  But every one of us has to undergo such a change whether we like it or not.  What matters most is how one reacts when he/she is facing that drastic change. The immediate reaction we all know is to resist that change. But resisting is not going to help but will have negative effect. So what has to be done in such situations? Here is the excerpt from the book on what Tony has to say about this,

“If you find yourself resisting change, the associated emotions may also relate to a sense of loss of self. If for example you resist change by staying in an unhealthy relationship because it is comfortable and you are afraid of being on your own; if you continue your workaholic patterns even though they are killing you by inches because you are sacred of the vacuum in the world outside of work; if you won’t stop drinking or smoking even though you have been diagnosed with the early signs of heart disease because you believe it will be a farewell to your youth and your lifestyle, then you need to

pause

and take the time to reassess your vision of the future in relation to your immediate goals.  Where are you now? Acted upon or proactive? Do your present actions tally with your desired expectations for five or ten years’ time?

Remember - resisting change does not prevent change from happening, it simply means the change will happen in a way that takes you further from where you ideally want to be.”

Beautiful, isn’t it not? Rather than resisting, start embracing change, think and take the action that will align to your vision, that way it is more like swimming along the current of the river rather than swimming against it.